The Twin Stage
by Hazel Maraa
Summary: Harry looked over at the Weasley Twins one day in the common room. He couldn't tell which twin was Fred and which was George, but he supposed that was nothing new. Then a thought occurred to him what if 'they' didn't know which was which either? No ships.


Don't own it.

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Harry Potter looked over at the Weasley Twins one day in the Gryffindor common room. He couldn't tell which twin was Fred and which was George, but he supposed that was nothing new. Then a thought occurred to him; what if _they_ didn't know which was which either? Harry thought that would be horrible, to now know who you are, or wonder if what you believed in was really what _you_ believe in and not some other person's belief. 

Harry thought for another moment. What would it be like if he had a twin? He couldn't imagine anyone exactly like him, so alike that they were almost never apart and never mentioned without the other. Huh. Harry paused in his musings. What would his twin's name be? Would it be something like James or Sirius? And his Godfather and father would favor them because they had _their_ name and he, Harry, didn't? The more he thought about it, the less he wanted one. He couldn't imagine how Fred and George handled it though.

Harry glanced at the twins again. Did they like having a title? 'The Weasley Twins'. Didn't get much more specific than that. If you said 'The Weasley Twins' somewhere, anywhere, everybody would know who you were talking about. Was it fun being famous for something good? Well, not that he wasn't famous for something _good_, but y'know, the whole, 'both-parent-dieing-thing' was a bit of a bummer.

Harry blinked at the wave of exhaustion and wondered if having a twin was like empathy for one person. That'd be cool at first, but Harry supposed it would get rather old after a while, and only come in handy when it was life or death and some random death eater decided it would be good to brag about anything and everything and then remind you of it and then somehow find out where the other was and then you all live happily ever after... never forgetting to breathe. With a lot of 'and thens', can't forget those...

He shrugged but twitched as another question came tumbling into his mind. Did they have telepathy with each other? That would be so wicked... until they started thinking about how much they didn't like you, that might make it a little annoying, but still. It's the thought that counts, right? Right.

Hermione Granger, one of Harry's best friends, walked in at the exact moment. Once she sat down, Harry turned a pondering look at her and cleared his throat. She didn't look up. He cleared his throat a bit louder and she glanced at him with an eyebrow raised in annoyance. Oh, right. She was studying. Whoops.

"_What,_ Harry?" She snapped. Harry wondered if it should wait. _Ah well. No time like the present! Humm. Maybe I should wait though, she looks kind of... um... irritable. Oh well. _Harry mentally shrugged. After all, it wasn't _his_ fault he was an ignorant male.

"Hermione, would it be fun to have a twin?" To put it mildly, Hermione wasn't quite expecting that question.

"What?" She asked dumbly.

"Would it be fun to have a twin?" He repeated. Hermione looked at him, stunned. Did he _really_ just ask that? He couldn't have... could he?

"Did you just ask - haven't you gone through - _would it be fun to have a twin_?" Apparently, Hermione didn't get it.

"Haven't I gone through what?" Harry said, clueless, glancing at the twins once more.

"The twin stage!" Hermione whispered, as though something terrible would happen if she said it any louder. She had even looked around for eavesdroppers.

"The twin stage?" Harry said a little loudly. Hermione hushed him quickly.

"Shush! It's an unspoken thing between children that they all went through the twin stage. That's why if someone shudders randomly at you, you know it's because they were thinking about your twin stage." Hermione said, still in the odd whisper.

"But I thought most people _don't_ have twins?" Hermione nodded quickly. "So it's like an imaginary friend... of yourself?" She nodded again. "So why's it such a big deal, why all the secrecy?" Hermione, oddly enough, blushed.

"Well, most of the time, in the twin stage, it was an embarrassing time, and generally, people don't like reliving embarrassing things." Harry nodded at this logical remark.

"Fair enough. But even though it was embarrassing, why haven't I heard _anything _in the time I've been here?" Hermione shook her head.

"You don't understand, Harry. The twin stage was so embarrassing to most kids that they try to forget about it - and succeed. That's probably why you've never heard about it before. Lord knows the Dursley's told you anything. You're sure you never went through this?" Harry, who had been imagining twins of the Dursleys, snapped back to attention, and said,

"Nah, I dunno, 'Mione. I don't remember having a twin - in my imagination or not, but you said I could have succeeded in forgetting... so wouldn't that mean I don't remember it?" Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Well, yes, but this could actually explain why everyone makes fun of you at home. Think about it, maybe you did something so potentially black-mail-ish that they knew there was _something_ that you did, but they don't remember what it was you did? You are a wizard, after all, so you could have erased their memories accidentally. I think maybe you should ask Fred and -"

"I know! I'll ask Fred and George! Thanks for the idea, 'Mione!" He rushed over to the twins. "Hey George! Fred! What's it like being twins?" From her spot near the fire, Hermione winced. Blunt as ever, that was for sure.

Fred and George looked at each other, eyebrows raised.

"Well young Harry -" George was cut off.

"Do you guys ever forget who you are?" Harry asked eagerly.

Fred's eyebrows furrowed.

"Well not -" He was also cut off.

"Can you read each other's minds?"

"Harry -" George.

"Can you feel what the other twin is feeling?"

"Well -" Fred.

"Do you ever get jealous of each other?"

As if reading the other's mind, as one they grabbed either Harry's wrists or ankles, and chucked him out of the portrait hole.

Fred dusted off his hands and said to his twin,

"Poor chap. Hasn't gone through his twin stage yet." George nodded sympathetically.

After all, the two didn't have to get over their twin stage - they had each other ("Awwww!" the twins would say together, if they ever read that line about themselves).

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A/N - 'Twas reading "Motherhood" by Sierra Sitruc when this appeared. Wrote it in the early AM's (3:30 .. cuz who needs sleep anyway?) 

Hazel


End file.
